NewYorkExpress
Atlas Star
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« on: August 06, 2023, 02:44:19 AM » |
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John McCain had parlayed his primary night upset in New Hampshire into a string of stunning upsets across the nation, including overcoming barbarous negative campaigning in South Carolina, and ultimately clinched the Republican nomination for President by knocking the heavy favorite at the start of the primary season, Texas Governor George W. Bush, out of the race by winning Bush's home state of Texas on March 14, 2000 by seven points, and the home state Florida Governor Jeb Bush, George's brother, by eleven points the same day.
While former Assistant Secretary of State Alan Keyes technically remained in the race, he had not received more than five percent of the vote since the Delaware Primary, and in three of the remaining states (Pennsylvania, Kansas and New Jersey), Keyes did not even make the ballot. For all intents and purposes, McCain was the presumptive nominee for the Republicans in 2000.
On the Democratic side, Vice President Al Gore had always been the overwhelming favorite, and he only ever drew one challenger, former Senator Bill Bradley. Bradley was not considered a serious challenger in 2000, though had he run in 1984, 1988 or 1992, some political insiders thought he might have been a serious contender to win the nomination. Gore won easily in Iowa, narrowly in New Hampshire, and then didn't lose another contest by less than twenty points, leading to Bradley dropping out after getting crushed on Super Tuesday.
The summer leading up to the conventions was largely dominated by the selection of running mates.
For Gore, his problem was he needed to simultaneously embrace, but also separate himself from Bill Clinton, who had been impeached on Obstruction of Justice and Perjury charges a year prior. His first choice had been Senator Joe Lieberman, but the Connecticut Senator declined, as he did not wish to attack his good friend John McCain on the campaign trail. Gore ultimately turned to Patti Solis Doyle, at the time running Hillary Clinton's Senate campaign in New York for advice. Solis Doyle suggested that Gore pick a female running mate, but offered no other ideas or suggestions.
Gore's shortlist was only known to a small circle of people, including the individuals on the shortlist themselves, Gore, Campaign Manager Donna Brazile, and the director of the Vice Presidential Search, David Axelrod.
The list was:
Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
Governor Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)
Representative Barbara Lee (D-CA)
Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)
Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA)
Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shahala (D-WI-DC)
Gore quickly eliminated both Pelosi and Lee for very different reasons. Pelosi had designs on being the first female Speaker of the House, and didn't want to throw that away to be Vice President, while Lee was just too different ideologically from Gore.
That left, Shaheen, Feinstein, Landrieu, and Shalaha. Shahala wasn't particularly interested in testing the Hatch Act, nor did she want to resign to run for Vice President, so Gore reluctantly dropped her. Landrieu was not from a swing state, and her ties to the oil industry were unpalatable for Gore. She was out. Shaheen seemed like a natural choice being from a swing state, and one that McCain quite possibly could win without a pick like her's to turn the tide, but she did not want to abandon her reelection bid for Governor of New Hampshire.
This left Feinstein. Feinstein had been a significant voice on policy issues for eight years at this point, and was a worthy choice to be the first female running mate on a ticket. The only hiccup was that she was up for reelection, and California law was iffy about whether she be on the ballot for both the Senate and the Presidency. In any event, Gore asked her to drop her Senate campaign to run for Vice President, and Feinstein agreed.
Feinstein's reveal took place at the Rose Bowl on July 1, 2000. The next day, Feinstein ended her Senate campaign, and the California Democratic Party selected Representative Henry Waxman to replace her on the ballot. Waxman was in turn replaced on the ballot in his race by Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky.
McCain meanwhile, was finding himself with a winnable race, if he could find an attack dog that also did no harm to the ticket. He reached out to both George and Jeb Bush to see if either of them were interested in being his running mate, they were not.
He ultimately named himself as the chairman of the Vice Presidential search, and other than the candidates themselves and a handful of campaign staff, most people did not know who was on the shortlist.
The candidates were:
Senator Bill Frist (R-TN)
Senator Spencer Abraham (R-MI)
Senator John Ashcroft (R-MO)
Former Governor George Allen (R-VA)
Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME)
Snowe was considered too moderate to actually win over the Republican base, and was really on the list as a courtesy (and because McCain thought Gore was going to pick Jeanne Shaheen). Allen declined to be vetted at the request of the NRSC, as they didn't to lose a vital pickup opportunity in Virginia, as did Abraham and Ashcroft, both of whose seats Republicans badly needed to hold. That left Frist. Frist was not McCain's first choice (that was Ashcroft), but it was the only remaining one, and his unveiling was scheduled for July 6, 2000 in Nashville.
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